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(No Model.) A Y W. B. STEVENS. BOTTLE STOPPEB...

No. 535,229. Patented M21125, 1895.

:smmwuu K W "M m N a Y E A a WITNESSES: IN VENTOR UNITED STATES ATENTTrice.

WILLARD B. STEVENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOTTLE-STOPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 535,229, dated March 5,1895.

Application filed June 27,1894. serial No. 515,902. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLARD B. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Stoppers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Many devices have heretofore been devised with the designed purpose ofpreventing the fraudulent refilling of bottles and like vessels with aninferior quality of liquor to that originally contained therein, thusprotecting the manufacturer to a certain extent against refilling byunauthorized persons. The present invention has the same object in view,but its main aim is to generally improve the construction of suchdevices.

In all of the devices of which I am aware it is possible to introduce aninferior grade of liquor into bottles by introducing a small wire and inother ways unseating the valve and holdingit off its seat. My inventionovercomes this difficulty by an adaptation to the stopper of acombination and certain arrangement of devices which form guards.

My invention consists of a bottle stopper comprising a head having adischarge aperture and adapted for insertion into the neck of a bottle,a perforated guard-cup affixed on the under side of the head, and avalve-seat located below the guard-cup and formed with a concentricgroove around its upper end, such seat being either a part removablewith the stopper, or being a part of the neck of the bottle.

My inventionalso consists of certain other features of construction andcombinations of parts to be hereinafter fullydescribed and thenspecifically claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1, is a vertical central section ofthe neck of the bottle, showing my improved stopper partly in sectionand partly in elevation. Fig. 2, is a transverse section on line 2--2 ofFig. 1. Fig. 8, is a vertical central section of the neck of a bottleand stopper, showing a modification. Fig. 4, is a transverse section online 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5, is a vertical central section of a modifiedform of the invention, the valve-seat being formed on the neck of thebottle, and Fig. 6, is a transverse section on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In Figs. 1 to 4. inclusive the head A of the stopper is formed with acentral dischargeaperture 0. and is provided with a depending guard-cupB which is either made integral with or separate from the head. As in myprevious patent, No. 519,510, dated May 8, 1894, this guard-cup isprovided with sideperforations b and is closed at the bottom 13 for asimilar purpose. The sides of the bottom portion B of the guard-cup arenotched or recessed at b for a purpose hereinafter stated. A cage D issecured to the head A by cement or otherwise, and the whole cemented orotherwise permanently placed in the neck 0 of the bottle after thebottle is filled with liquor.

The stopper may be inserted wholly into the neck, or the head A may, asshown in the drawings be formed with an annular flange a. which restsagainst the mouth of the bottle.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the cage D corresponds in size to the interiorof the neck 0 and is formed at its lower end with a Valveseat 61 havingan opening cl for a conical valve E. Said valve is of shell-form and ispreferably made of some light material such as aluminum. In the bottomof this hollow conical valve E is an air-opening e which is closed by anauxiliary valve F of conical form, conforming to the interior of thevalve E and provided with a depending stemfion the extremity of which isa stop or enlargementf adapted to prevent the separation of the twovalves, while permitting a limited movement to auxiliary valve F. Thesurface of the valveseat is annularly grooved at d so as to provide anair-space which reduces the tendency of the valve E to stick. Normallythe upper end of the valve rests slightly below the up per edge of thevalve-seat, and the latter is formed, around said edge with an annularguard-groove d the function of which will be presently stated. Anannular guard-shoulder g is formed on the interior of the cage D aboutmidway of the same, at a point intermediate of the perforations Z7 andthe notches or recesses b in the guard-cup B. In pouring the liquor fromthe bottle, the valve E moves into the cage D until interrupted by theguardcup, and the liquor then flows through the opening 61' theperforations in the guard-cup and out of the discharge-aperture a.Should the valve E tend to stick on the seat, the ex posure of theair-opening e in the former by the dropping of the auxiliary valve Fpermits a small supply of air to enter the bottle and relieve thesuction on the valve E, and releases the valve from the seat.

In case an unauthorized party should insert a wire into the stopperthrough the perforations in the guard-cup B for the purpose of gettingat the valve the chances are that it would be interrupted by theguard-shoulder g, of the cage D. Should the wire however, pass saidguard-shoulder it would possibly be diverted along one of the notches hon the bottom of the guard-cup and into the interior of the valve, thuspushing the same more firmly into its seat. If not directed into theinterior of the valve its natural tendency would be into theguard-groove d where the end of the wire could not possibly be insertedbetween the valve and the valve-seat.

The cage of the modified form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is reduced. in sizefor a portion of its length so as to provide an annular airspace hbetween the same and the neck of the bottle, and at the upper and lowerends of this space air-passages h, 71 are provided, which establishcommunication between the interior of the cage and said air-space. Inthis form of theinvention the guard-shoulder g, groove cl and theauxiliary valve F may be dispensed with, and in place of providing ashell-like valve, a valve E without perforation is used. If desired thisvalve E may also be of shell form, but has no opening. The air-space hand air-passages h take the place of the auxiliary valve F by permittingair to come in as the liquor flows out, and to circulate around thevalve after it is unseated. Without this annular space it, or the valveF the vacuum formed in the bottle by the pouring out of the liquor sucksthe valve E back into its seat.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the head A, guard-cup B, valve E and auxiliary valve Fare the same as in Fig. 1. The cage is, however dispensed with, and avalve-seat is formed directly in the neck of the bottle by suitablemolds and chucks, so that an interior annular flange t of the samematerial as the bottle is provided; a guard-groove d similar in functionto that of d being also produced at the same time.

For the purpose of establishing a firmerconnection between the stopperand the neck of the bottle a means for locking the same together ispreferably provided. See Fig. 1.

A notch or recess 1' is made in the interior of the neck and a recess 4in the exterior of the stopper. In inserting the stopper into the neck agravity lock 3 in the form of a metallic ball is first placed in therecess r and when the stopper is pushed down as far as possible therecess 9 and the gravity lock will move into the latter, but willproject partly into the recess 7'' so far that if an attempt were madeto withdraw the stopper the lock would prevent it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. A bottle-stopper, consisting of a head having adischarge-aperture, a guard-cup arranged under said head and having sideperforations, an internal body located below the guard-cup and formedwith a flaring valveseat and with a concentric annular guardgroovearound the upper end of the valveseat, said annular guard groove beingof greater diameter than the guard-cup and concentric therewith, and aconical valve adapted to fit in said valve seat below said groove,substantially as set forth.

2. A bottle-stopper, consisting of a head having a discharge-aperture, acage, said head and cage being adapted for permanent insertion into theneck of the bottle and said cage having a valve-seat formed around anopening in its lower end, a conical gravity-valve of hollow form havingan air-opening in its lower end, and an auxiliary valve for closing saidair-opening and being provided with means for limiting its play,substantially as set forth.

3. A bottleestopper, consisting of a head having a discharge-aperture, acage, said head and cage being adapted for permanent insertion into theneck of the bottle and said cage having a valve-seat formed around anopening in its lower end, a conical gravity-valve of hollow form havingan air-opening in its lower end, and an auxiliary valve provided with astem extending through said air-opening and with a stop on said stem forlimiting the play of the auxiliary-valve, substantially as set forth.

4. A bottle-stopper, consisting of a head having a discharge-aperture, aperforated guard-cup located at the under side of said head, and havinga closed lower end provided with side-notches a cage also on the underside of said head and inclosing said guardcup, said cage being providedwith an internal annular guard-shoulder located opposite said notchesand having a valve-seat formed around an opening in its lower end, and avalve for closing said opening, substantially as set forth.

5. A bottle-stopper, consisting of a head having a discharge-aperture, aguard-cup depending from the under side of said head and having sideperforations, a cage abutting against the under side of said head andprovided at its lower end with a flaring valve-seat and with aconcentric annular guard-groove around the upper end of the valve-seat,so that the latter is located below the groove, said annularguard-groove being of greater diameter than the guard-cup, andconcentric In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention Ihave signed my name in pres- 1o ence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLARD B. STEVENS.

Witn esses:

K. R. BRENNAN, J. GRAEF.

